The various species of flycatchers, as the name implies, feed upon insects which they capture for the most part while on the wing. Flies and allied insects are quite prominent on the bill-of-fare; but these by no means are the only kinds of insects destroyed by them. Many a luckless locust, butterfly, moth or even beetle is snapped up and devoured by the different species of the family.

The "Bee-bird", or Kingbird as it is more frequently called, some times even catches bees. These latter, however, consist largely of drones, and hence comparatively little harm is done. If worker bees should be persistently destroyed by some individual bird that develops an abnormal appetite, be should he killed.

443. Milvulus forficatus (Gmel).—SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER.

Once near Lincoln, fall of 1872 (L. Bruner); "Accidental * * * Manitoba, and even at York Factory Hudson’s Bay Territory" (Goss).

Lincoln (L. Bruner) "Have only observed it in central and western Nebraska" (Aughey); "Abundant in western Nebraska, where it breeds" (Taylor); "East to Dakota, south through middle Kansas" (Goss); Omaha—breeds (L. Skow); Summer resident, common," North Platte (M. K.
Barnum).

Sioux county, Dismal river (L Bruner); "Frequently seen wherever there is woodland or timber-skirted streams in western Nebraska" (Aughey); "Given by Bayard and Aughey as a summer resident in the western part of the state" (Taylor); "East to western Nebraska and Texas" (Goss); Omaha—breeds (L. Skow).

463. Empidonax flaviventrisBaird.—YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER.

Lincoln, West Point (L. Bruner); sparingly in eastern Nebraska (Aughey).

West Point (L. Bruner); "West into Nebraska and middle Texas" (Goss); Omaha—breeding (L. Skow); "a common summer resident, breeds in June and departs in September" (I. S. Trostler.)

466a. Empidonax traillii (Aud.).—TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER.

Omaha, Lincoln (L. Bruner); "most abundant of the two [forms]" (Aughey); "Migratory, rare, has been seen in the western part of the state in August" (Taylor); "Eastern North America, to the plains" (Goss); Omaha—breeds (L. Skow); Peru, rare—may breed (G. A. Coleman); Omaha, "a common summer resident" (I. S. Trostler).

One should be unprejudiced in order to write a fair biography of even a bird, or group of birds. To say that I am without such prejudice with reference to some of the members of the family of birds now under consideration, would be a falsehood. Still, I shall endeavor to give as unbiased testimony as possible with reference to their food-habits at least, and let the reader judge for himself as to what would be the proper treatment for these birds.

Taking the family as a whole, it is made up of birds like the crows, ravens, magpies, jays, nut-crackers, camp-robbers, etc., many of which have unenviable reputations at least if they are not really as bad as we are sometimes requested to believe they are.

The crows, ravens, magpies, and immediate relatives are what might be termed "omnivorous" in food-habit---eating everything that comes their way. The crows, however, have been shown to feed largely upon
insects, which in a great measure, at least, offsets the harm done in other directions. They also feed upon various substances, the removal of which is for the general good.

The Raven is too rare a bird in this state to be taken into consideration in respect to food-habit, and the Magpie certainly can be put out of the question of doing any possible harm for the same reason. This leaves then to be considered, the jays, of which we seem to have six or seven distinct kinds: but only two of these are at all common. The Blue Jay is found over the entire state, and is familiar to everybody. The second species is found only in the western and northwestern portions among the pine forests, and is known as the Piñon Jay or Camp Robber—the latter name not very flattering to the bird I must confess. For a more explicit account of each the reader is referred to the different species recorded below.